@markchampkins – look what we bought this morning!!! #ScienceNight #ScienceMuseum #BT
A photo posted by Liz Weston (@westoncomms) on
I am sorry. I am very, very sorry. I love to write that at the start of a post. Not. I am putting myself onto the naughty step for this one. Agggges ago, we had one of the coolest experiences of our lives. And I didn’t acknowledge it properly, by writing a blog post about it. I drafted it – twice – on two separate occasions – on two different pieces of tech. And can I find it? Can I chuff !!!!! Arrrgggghhh. Anyway, here it is….. You know when you experience something cool – in fact, something so cool that you don’t know how to write about it? Well, that’s this. We were treated to a unique experience of #ScienceNight – a night at the Science Museum, with BT. It was all organised as part of BT’s sponsoring an entire floor of the Science Museum and providing artefacts, info and uber cool kit and tech as it has developed through the ages. Seriously, that floor alone made me so happy. I’ll write more about it later. It’s really hard to write up nights like this – because there’s the family stuff – the tension, arguing and ‘will our children behave relatively appropriately’ stresses that come with going out of the house. And I think it’s only fair to document them. Because that’s real life and I’m big on that being in my blog. So I’ll start with an element of that actually…
We rocked up to the Science Museum on a Saturday night at 6pm, with just our overnight kit. Lovely Bloke was on what I’ll politely refer to as Full Flap: because we were Super Special VIP guests, we didn’t need to take sleeping bags, a roll mat and something to act as a pillow like all the other attendees. He was convinced that even though it said we didn’t need it, we should have had it with us though. You know, just in case 😉 God. Love. Him. In fact, there was plenty more of that sort of thing in the next 24 hours. But I’d rather tell you about other things.
We joined the regular people doing #ScienceNight – there were 400 of us altogether. Hang on, I’d better explain what it is… “Science Night is a special overnight event for 7-13 year olds featuring exciting hands-on workshops, science shows, a sleepover at the Science Museum among the amazing exhibits, followed by a tasty breakfast and a breathtaking film in our IMAX Theatre. Science Night is for families, birthday parties, schools, Cubs and Brownie groups. We cater for up to 460 campers on each Night so there will be many other groups enjoying the event. We also run one Science Night a year exclusively for Brownie groups.”
Ok, so now you get the idea. You can have a look online to find out more about it. But what I want to share, is the special stuff that happened: on arrival, we were taken to our base, to meet two other blogging families with children of varying ages. Our boys saw the open space and despite their busy day, decided that there was only one thing to do – run up and down the entire space, whooping and cheering at the scale of it all. So they did. We then had snacks, drinks and an intro to the night, a brief rundown of the timetable and what would happen when. We joined the regular intro to the evening with lots of other screaming children….
Can you hear the screaming???? #ScienceMuseum #ScienceNight #BT A video posted by Liz Weston (@westoncomms) on
After that, we came back to our base, which was on the BT floor and in a special space, just for us. And that’s where the night got really special. We met Mark Chapman. He’s a really nice, normal, down to earth bloke. Except for the fact that he has a special ability to see the world differently to lots of other people. And he uses it to invent things that can make the world a more useful, constructive and beautiful place.
This is Mark Champkins – exclusive interview!!! #ScienceNight A photo posted by Liz Weston (@westoncomms) on
I was worried that the boys wouldn’t sit still to learn from him. But his five slides, with lots of ideas and examples of things he’s done that work and more importantly, didn’t work, really did sink in for Team Weston – we have all had many conversations since that night about Mark Chapman, learning and how figuring out where and how things work is a good thing.
Here’s my Bigger Dude, wearing some experimental glasses that Mark Chapman made for people in places where prescription glasses aren’t easily available.
Big bear trying out vari prescription glasses #ScienceNight #BT
A photo posted by Liz Weston (@westoncomms) on
After we’d totally grilled Mark and he’d sat with us for photos, we all went off to do activities which were part of regular Science Night. I have to say, that by this point, were were heading for 10pm and William and I were rather tired. So we sloped off and wandered the galleries. It was surreal to be able to wander around somewhere that is normally so busy, noisy and truthfully, can sometimes be difficult to appreciate. It’s hard to watch your children, read descriptions on exhibits and share info with your team, when we are all wandering in difficult directions. I could let William wander, read, sit and just look around at the scale of everything. It was really cool. The best bit of the night was still to come though. And BT, seriously, you nailed it. The three blogging families had the entire BT floor to ourselves. We could pick where we liked the look of. So we did. And then, we were given air beds, bedding, duvets, blankets and pillows – with pillowcases!!! It was so luxurious that it just all felt so uber special. I can’t describe it. Well, being me, I tried to.
Truly unique experience – the whole floor to ourselves – us and 3 other families. #ScienceNight #ScienceMuseum #BT strange to think there are 480 people sleeping in the other galleries…… A video posted by Liz Weston (@westoncomms) on
And in some ways, that’s that. But here’s some other things I want to tell you about that night.
– We’ve all been inspired by meeting Mark Champkins – we’ve had several conversations about inventors, looking at the world differently and finding ways to use our brains to help other people.
– We were all amazed by the different things that happen in the world and the similar things that happen in the world, irrespective of geography. It’s given us lots more fodder for conversations about the world and how things work.
– We’re going back to the Science Museum this week, to show Grandma what we learnt, and where we slept. The boys are very excited about this.
– Life really is about making memories – and not, buying stuff. By having that priceless experience together, it’s made me want more of them. It’s reinvigorated us and our outlook – we want to do more cool exploring together!
I appreciate that this is a rambling and random write up of #ScienceNight so take a moment to check out Kids Days Out writing about this for a more structured review!!
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